Freshman Cameron Thayer scored his first goal as an Eagle and his second as a golden goal for the victory over the Charleston Cougars.
The forward, from Wilmington, North Carolina, had the game of his life on Sept. 25. Starting from a young age and up into college, Thayer has enjoyed playing soccer.
“I started playing soccer when I was four years old and the reason I started playing is because that’s what I grew up doing and everyone in my family has played,” Thayer said.
Thayer grew up playing soccer and he knew he wanted to continue his play into college.
“The things that made me choose Winthrop were the coaching staff and some of the guys that I really clicked with when I first came to visit,” Thayer said.
Less than five minutes from entering the game as a sub, Thayer scored his first collegiate goal to put the Eagles at a 1–0 lead in the 34th minute.
“Scoring my first collegiate goal was really everything I dreamt of and was probably one of the best moments in my career,” Thayer said.
As the game continued, the Cougars later headed in the ball off of a corner kick, straight on from the goal, bringing the score to a tie of 1–1.
Winthrop snuck in another goal before the half and took the lead as Jonathan Foster slipped a pass behind the defense to Ben Goodman as he ran on and took the shot, burying it into the far lower right corner of the net. The Eagles went into the half with a score of 2–1.
“2–1 at halftime and then we let CofC back in, we did have a couple of chances early in the second half to put the game away but we didn’t finish those and they came back and got a good goal,” Coach Ridenhour said in an interview after the game.
In the 57th minute the Eagles had a good chance for a 3–1 lead when midfielder, Leif Leon Estevez Fernandez, played a ball down the right wing into space and Jordan Walshaw ran onto the ball, dribbling into the box and passing the ball in front to Goodman. Goodman received the pass, took a touch and tried to slip a shot past but got blocked in the action.
The Cougars tied the match in the 68th minute when a Cougar played a long ball into the box that then was headed straight into the goal. The score now 2–2 and the clock running down, the Eagles were looking into overtime.
In double-overtime, forward, Foster, nearly ended the game as he took a pass at the back post from Walshaw. He struck the ball in the air but it bounced off of the crossbar and was cleared out by the Cougars.
A minute and a half later, Thayer won the game for the Eagles as Walshaw crossed the ball into the near post. Thayer ran on and headed the ball straight into the back of the net for the golden goal. Thayer spoke on his emotions after scoring the game winning goal for the Eagles.
“Scoring the winning goal against CofC was something I couldn’t really put into words. It was something that I’ll always remember in my life and career. The moment from the ball hitting the net to the dog pile from the whole team,” Thayer said.
The team was hype after scoring the winning goal and claiming victory over the Cougars. Not only was the team extremely happy over the win, but Coach Ridenhour was proud of his boys.
“Our guys were really resilient tonight, really proud of everybody, even the guys that didn’t play there was a lot of positive energy from the bench and I think that helped carry us,” Ridenhour said.
Coach Ridenhour spoke on the performance of the team and the competition that College of Charleston brought to the field in an interview after the game.
“It took a lot out of both teams tonight, College of Charleston was up for the game and it was really hot at kick off (temperatures in the upper 90s) , going 103 minutes was certainly challenging,” Ridenhour said.
The student body really showed out for the boys on Wednesday; the energy from the stands was high and intense. Loud cheers, clapping and encouragement from the Eagle student body. The men’s team and the coach didn’t let that energy go unnoticed.
“We had a great home crowd tonight,” Coach Ridenhour said.
The Eagles couldn’t have done it without your support on the sidelines.
The Eagles will be playing at Eagle Field on:
Wed. Oct. 9 @7 p.m. &
Sat. Oct. 19 @5 p.m.
Make sure to come out and support your Eagles!
Photo: Gabby Gardner/ The Johnsonian
